The invention relates to a system and method for tracking persons, and particularly to a system and method for tracking a person""s shoe through the use of a global positioning system implanted into the heel of a shoe to be worn by a person to be tracked.
There is no question that families today are extremely active and busy, often with both parents working full time and their kids engaged in multiple activities. With such an active lifestyle, a lack of communication often develops and the safety of family can become an issue. The advent of cellular phones provided an excellent method of staying in communication with people despite their busy schedules. However, for children, especially younger children, cellular phones are not a very practical tool for keeping track of their location and safety. They are often complicated to use and are likely to be lost or broken. Thus, what is needed is a automated portable device that will transmit information about the location of a person, particularly a child, that is simple and reliable.
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a system and method for tracking and locating persons.
Another object of the invention is to provide a personal tracking system that is concealed in an article worn by a person so that the device is not a bother and can be easily transported with the person.
Another object of the invention is to provide a personal tracking system that does not require a user to turn the location unit on or off.
Another object of the invention is to be able to provide accurate location information to parents about their children""s whereabouts for their children""s safety.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a system and method wherein multiple persons can be concurrently tracked and located.
The above objectives are accomplished according to the present invention by providing a web host connected to a wide area web network, wherein the web host has a computer readable medium. A computer program is stored on the web host for connecting a location unit subscriber to the network. A unique location unit is carried by a person, preferably in the person""s shoe. The location unit includes a GPS chip for calculating the position of the person. The location unit includes a processor for accessing location data calculated by the GPS chip. A transceiver included in the unit is controlled by the processor to automatically answer a tracking call from the web host, transmit location data representing the current position of the person back to the web host, and then hang up. Any one of a number of users who subscribe to the network may concurrently send tracking requests to the web host wherein the web host automatically sends out tracking calls to each identified person/location unit, receives the current locations of the persons from the location units, and transmits location data to the subscribers for display at the subscribers"" computer terminals. The location unit is integral and inconspicuously concealed within the heel of a shoe to be worn by a person to be tracked.
The personal tracking system and method uses cutting edge technology with GPS and wireless web design. The shoe location unit reads its location off GPS satellites every 15 seconds and keeps its last location in memory. When one goes online to locate a person, the web host contacts the shoe location unit and pinpoints its exact location on a map, all in less than two minutes. Since GPS cannot track inside a building, if a person enters inside a building, the web host will contact the location unit and draw a map taking one to the front of the building where the person is located. A 24 hour tracking center may be provided that will track persons for those subscribers not connected to the Internet, or other wide-area network.